Mr Hitchcock

By Quentin Falk

The undisputed ‘Master of Suspense’, Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980) was at the forefront of cinema almost from its very beginnings, yet throughout his long career he remained a thoroughly ‘modern’ filmmaker with a singular grasp of the technology and an affinity with his stars.

With classic movies such as The Lodger, Blackmail, The 39 Steps, Rebecca, Notorious, Vertigo, Strangers on a Train, North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds and Frenzy, he topped box offices across the world, his name always above the title. In the 1950s and 1960s he conquered the new medium of television with the ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ series, and became the most instantly recognisable film director in the world, thanks in part to his darkly humorous cameo appearances in all his movies.

Lavishly illustrated, as befits a biography of this most ‘visual’ of moviemakers, this fascinating book examines Hitchcock’s relationships with the series of ‘Hitchcock Blondes’, including Tippi Hedren, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak and most famously Grace Kelly, in the light of the director’s background and upbringing, and how his complex attitudes to crime, guilt, innocence and sex recur as an intriguing subtext to the dazzling film-making of one of the greatest figures in cinema history.

'Falk gives an intelligent appreciation of classic movies such as Vertigo and Psycho without over-analysing them. He also offers us an understanding of how Hitch’s complex personality helped shape his movies and his attitudes towards his leading ladies. It’s a fine introduction to one of the most important figures in cinema history and it will have you yearning to watch Hitch’s films again.’

Nigel Powlson, Derby Evening Telegraph

Quentin Falk, editor of the BAFTA magazine Academy, is the author of books on Anthony Hopkins, Albert Finney, Graham Greene and the Rank Organisation. A former editor of Screen International, he has been film critic for the Daily Mail and the Sunday Mirror, as well as a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines for more than 30 years.